As the late American writer Laurie Colwin put it so brilliantly in her essay The Low-Tech Person’s Batterie de Cuisine, “Pots and pans are like sweaters: you may have lots of them, but you find yourself using two or three over and over again.” And here’s the thing: whether it’s pans or clothing, the most useful ones are those which fit your lifestyle best.
“Your choice of pans should reflect your actual cooking habits, not an idealised version of them,” agrees the Guardian’s columnist Yotam Ottolenghi. So if you pan-fry or sear, braise or regularly knock up soups and sauces for one or many, these are the pans the UK’s top chefs suggest keeping in your arsenal.
Meera Sodha
Feast columnist and author of Dinner (out in August)
“I’ve been using Ninja non-stick frying pans for around a year now, and I love them. The flat bottom ensures lots of room to fry, and the high sides mean the pan is flexible enough to cook curries in. I always buy 28cm pans because you can cook for four, and all lids fit, which is endlessly satisfying.”
Buy: £27.99
johnlewis.com
Yotam Ottolenghi
Feast columnist, chef and restaurateur
“Really, you only need one or two everyday pans. The shallow casserole saute pan from Le Creuset is my top pick, perfect for searing, deglazing, and simmering stews. They’re sturdy, reliable, and built to withstand a lifetime of use.”
Buy: from £249
lecreuset.co.uk
Itamar Srulovich
chef/co-owner of the Honey & Co group of restaurants in London
“This is a hot topic because we had a wide 32cm pan, which we called ‘big ass pan’, and we used it for everything. My wife threw it out, and we got another 28cm big ass pan; it’s a basic, non-stick one from a kitchen supply shop, and cost about £20. But it’s just not big enough to make my veal shank stew in, so get the widest non-stick one you can find (28-32cm) and keep it simple. You can then abuse it and really get your money’s worth.”
Buy: £38.99
nisbets.co.uk
Andi Oliver, chef, broadcaster, and author of The Pepperpot Diaries
“Obviously, everyone loves Le Creuset; they’re gorgeous but they are expensive. ProCook does an amazing heavy-bottomed, iron Dutch pot, which I fill with curried goat. I’ve also got two broad frying pans from HexClad, and they’re a step up from your average frying pan. I pan-fried a whole side of wild sea trout in there and the skin was perfectly crispy, and it was easy to get it out. If you can fry a great piece of fish in a pan, that’s an indicator that it’s great.”
Buy: £99
Tom Kerridge
chef, restaurateur, and author of Pub Kitchen
Buy: £179
hexclad.co.uk
“The one I use at home is like a saute pan, with a flat bottom and fairly high sides (a bit like a frying pan). I like Staub and Demeyere for investment pieces, and then the non-stick pans from HexClad are amazing. The beautiful cast-iron Le Creuset pans work nicely for braising, but you can also roast and fry in them. It does feel like an awful lot of money but the cost over 20 years will be nothing, so think of it as an investment.”
Buy: from £130
lecreuset.co.uk
Rukmini Iyer
Feast columnist and author of The Green Cookbook
“I’m very fond of my Le Creuset pans for casseroles (one large and flat in almond; one small in duck-egg blue, one inherited in the classic orange), but less so for curries because the onions don’t seem to brown in quite the right way. For a good non-stick, I love my Samuel Groves frying pan.”
Buy: £140
johnlewis.com
Tim Hayward
restaurateur, broadcaster, and author of Steak
“I buy all my pans from Nisbets, a catering supply company. They may not be the prettiest, but they’re tough as hell. A favourite would be a slightly bowl-shaped pan: you can scramble eggs in it, you can boil potatoes in it, and it works slightly wok-like. I cut down on the number of pan lids by having standard pan sizes (25cm and 30cm), so I’ve got two glass lids and that’s all I need.”
Buy: £44.99
nisbets.co.uk
Georgina Hayden
cook and author of Greekish
“People get fixated on a pan being good or bad, but I think anything heavy weight is great. I’m not OCD about my pans; when we taught cookery lessons at Jamie’s [Oliver] Food Revolution, we would get everything from Ikea because that’s what we could afford, and they were fine. Having said that, if you’re into your kit, Netherton Foundry do the most stunning cast-iron pans and vessel (cast-iron is always a good way to go).”
Buy: £74.99
souschef.co.uk
Mitch Tonks, founder of The Seahorse in Dartmouth, Devon, and the Rockfish group of restaurants
“I use a wide saute pan with slightly flared sides; you can fry in it, you can put water in it and poach or cook vegetables, but most importantly you can toss pasta dishes in it. I like Le Creuset and Mauviel pans, but I’m saving up for some Stanley Tucci for Greenpan ones – they look fantastic.”
Buy: £199.95
fortnumandmason.com
Rachel Roddy
Feast columnist and author of An A-Z of Pasta
“My Mauviel copper saute pan is the most expensive thing in my kitchen and was a 40th birthday gift from my family. I use it for soups, stews, braises, and it’s in a league of its own for beautiful, even cooking that holds heat. It’s just getting better with age – this one will outlive me.”
Buy: £329
boroughkitchen.com
Ravneet Gill
Feast columnist, pastry chef, and judge on TV’s Junior Bake Off
“A large Le Creuset cast-iron pan, and I have shallow and deep ones. Although you pay out initially, they really do last. We always find that whatever we make is nicer when we use this pan, so it’s the one we return to most often!”
Buy: £285
johnlewis.com
Margot Henderson, chef and co-owner of Rochelle Canteen in London
“My Finnish Sarpaneva cast-iron pot is beautiful in every way; a joy to cook long and slow on the stove, or just some rice.”
Buy: £240
davidmellordesign.com or
Buy: from £202.67
amazon.co.uk
Richard Corrigan, chef-patron of the Corrigan Collection
“Skeppshult make brilliant cast-iron pans; there’s a good selection, and if you look after it properly, you’ll have it for life.”
Buy: from £108.99
souschef.co.uk
Phil Khoury, head pastry chef at Harrods and author of A New Way to Bake
“I have a small kitchen, so utility is essential. I have one large pan, the Our Place Titanium Pan Pro, which is a new buy, but I’m already sold. It’s pretty amazing.”
Buy: £175
fromourplace.co.uk
• This article was amended on 7 August 2024 to remove a recommendation by Paul Ainsworth for HexClad pans; while we have no reason to doubt these are not his preferred choice, the relevant entry had not reflected that he is also an ambassador for the brand.
